Presentation on Twitter to to healthcare leaders at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, with emphasis on basics of making Twitter connections, varieties of Twitter content, and real-world example using peers in healthcare and medicine.

1. Wendy Darling
Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Emory University

2.  Understand the place of Twitter in the world of social
media (versus Facebook, YouTube, Linkedln) and how it
can be used as a tool in leadership
 Learn the basics and benefits of connecting with others
using Twitter - leaders and influencers in your field,
members of the media, people in your organization
 Gain understanding of how Twitter can be used to
promote content outside Twitter — including YouTube
videos, graphics, blogs, institutional communications
efforts, fundraising pages, etc.

3. Wendy Darling
 Emory Health Sciences Communications, 2007 – Present
General Work
 Web site management
 Content management – news, video, magazine articles, blogs
 Multimedia
Social Media
 Emory Twitter -- manage @EmoryHealthSci & @EmoryMedicine
 Emory Facebook – manage WHSC & School of Medicine
 Other Emory Social Media – YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest
 Personally on Twitter since 2008 -- @wcdarling – 36,000+ tweets

4. What is social media?
Succinctly put:
“A group of Internet-based applications that build
on the ideological and technological foundations of
Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange
of user-generated content.”
Citation: Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein Michael (2010). "Users of the world, unite! The
challenges and opportunities of social media". Business Horizons 53 (1). p. 61.
Even more succinctly put:
Tools that let people to create, share or exchange
info, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual
communities and networks.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
Instagram
Pinterest
Tumblr
& more…

5.  Professional > personal
 Create professional circle
 Twitter “Lists” function
 Hashtags
 Mobile, short posts
 View at a glance
 Reposting of content
 Niche content, go deep

6. Twitter for Leaders
While I have always been an early adopter of
technology, I must admit that I sent my first tweet just
before my first day of work here at the Woodruff Health
Sciences Center.
With around 25,000 individuals contributing to our
clinical, educational, discovery, and community service
missions, it is a daunting task to ensure that people get
to know me, my aspirations for the institution, and my
appreciation for all the great work being done here.
Twitter is a wonderful mechanism for getting the word
out, and the 140 character limit for tweets ensures that
I stay concise and that the messages can be quickly
and easily consumed by the very busy people in our
WHSC community.
Jonathan Lewin
@JonLewinMD
EVP for Health Affairs
Emory University
Executive Director
Woodruff Health Science Center
President and CEO
Emory Healthcare

7. Hashtags
Twitter’s hashtags are integral to service &
really work, unlike Facebook’s.
Ads & Sorting
Twitter (the app especially) does have
“sponsored” content (ads). However, it tends
to be less annoying.
Twitter also doesn’t “curate” what you see.

8. Personal or Professional?
 Just for work?
 When is it appropriate to include personal stuff on a
professional account?
 What about protecting reputation of your employer?
 For healthcare professionals:
What about confidentiality?
Broad or Niche?
 “Broadcast” everything under the sun?
 Or focus on specific area or group of areas to focus?
 How specialized do you want your tweets to be?
Your Twitter Profile
 Appropriate avatar?
 Accurate mini-bio?
 Customize the look?
 Does profile match type of account (official vs.
personal)?
Official or Unofficial
 How will you identify yourself?
 If you’re “official,” would you want yourself quoted by
media saying what you’re saying?
 Confidentiality
Get Started
Sign up, pick a Twitter handle, and get started… Keeping this in mind:

9. Emory docs on Twitter: http://bit.ly/emorydocstwitter

10. Where to start making
connections?
 Your institution's peers & partners
 Local, regional, national,
international institutions
 Non-profits
 Journals & associations
 Conference events
 Research communities
 Media – outlets & individuals
Tools
 Explore other people’s Twitter
profiles & connections
 Twitter tools – lists, suggestions,
search, hashtags

11. So Much to Share…
 Articles you’re reading
 News coverage
 YouTube videos
 Conference news & presentations
 Blog posts
 Science/discovery news
 Photos – especially snapshots
 Other visuals – charts, scans, messages
 Things that are inspiring you
Plus… Retweets

19. Emory
@EmoryUniversity
@EmoryHealthSci
@EmoryMedicine
@EmoryDeptofMed
@WinshipAtEmory
Morehouse
@MSMEDU
Grady
@GradyHealth
@GradyHealthFdn
Tip:
If you’re with
Emory School of Medicine,
I recommend starting
with @EmoryMedicine –
and from there you will see
many other accounts you
can follow.